Calls for a new EU tax on banks and finance houses to help repay the cost of the economic crisis have been slammed as an attack on the City of London.

Euro-MPs in Strasbourg voted overwhelmingly for the tax - with proceeds to go straight to the EU budget - in a move designed to plough extra cash into development aid and the fight against climate change.

But the European Commission immediately cautioned against such a move without matching international measures, fearing that an EU-only tax would hit European competitiveness.